The Skillery is a Nashville coworking space with resources and programming for freelancers, entrepreneurs, small teams and independent professionals, all aimed at making work meaningful, satisfying and unabashedly fun.

Introduction to Entrepreneurship

You’ve been thinking about starting your own business, but don’t know where to begin. You have product ideas, but aren't sure whether there’s a market for them. You have entrepreneurial questions and needs, and The Skillery has answers and resources. Join us for a day of education and community building designed with you in mind.

THE SCHEDULE

7 - 8 a.m.: Breakfast and Registration

8 - 8:15 a.m.: Welcome and Orientation

8:15 - 9:15 a.m.: Understanding YouWe'll talk about your ideas and inspiration and dig into activities that help you understand your strengths and weaknesses, what time you have available, and how to form a team around you.

9:15 - 9:45 a.m.: Identifying Your AssumptionsAt the heart of every business are core assumptions. We'll explore those assumptions, and use a custom version of the Business Model Canvas — a visual template that helps you develop your business model — to identify, test and refine those assumptions.

9:45 - 10 a.m.: Break

10 - 11 a.m.: Your CustomersWe'll work through exercises to understand who your customers are, what they do, and where they are when they're making key purchasing decisions.

11 - 12 p.m.: Customer DevelopmentTo truly understand your customer, you must learn to be empathetic. We'll walk through activities and mock interviews to better understand how to get the most from customer interactions, before you spend money building products they may or may not want.

12 - 1 p.m.: Lunch

1 - 2 p.m.: Legal and AccountingIn this round-table breakout session, you'll have a chance to meet with a lawyer and an accountant to ask questions and learn some basics, in a casual Q&A format.

2 - 2:30 p.m.: MessagingIf you're going to create a killer brand, you need a killer brand message that defines who you are and what makes you great. In this activity, we'll break that statement down, and help you come up with language you can use to present your brand to the world.

2:30 - 3:15 p.m.: Customer AcquisitionHow do we find customers, and how do they find us? How do we get our customers to know, like and trust our business? We'll talk about customer acquisition and come up with some steps our fans and followers can take on the path to becoming loyal customers.

3:15 - 3:45 p.m.: Break

3:45 - 4:45 p.m.: MoneyOur afternoon turns to a conversation of all things money-related, from a basic financial overview of revenue streams, fixed costs and variable costs, to more detailed instruction on how to calculate a break-even point and how to construct basic financial projections for your business.

4:45 - 5 p.m.: Wrap-Up

5 - 6 p.m.: Happy Hour

ABOUT THE DAY

IT'S NOT A CONFERENCE. IT'S A WORKSHOP. No guest speakers. No boring PowerPoint presentations. This is an action-driven, collaborative workshop with a small and supportive group of like-minded entrepreneurs, led by Skillery founder and owner Matt Dudley, who will introduce concepts and help you put them to work immediately through hands-on activities and exercises.

WHO IT'S FORIntroduction to Entrepreneurship was designed with aspiring entrepreneurs in mind. The only real prerequisites are: having a business idea you're ready, willing and excited to share and work on; and a willingness to study, shape and fine-tune that idea in a supportive, collaborative and welcoming environment. If you're creative and community-minded and serious about exploring entrepreneurship, we hope you'll join us.

REGISTRATIONThe registration fee for Introduction to Entrepreneurship is $199, and includes workshop materials, coffee, light breakfast, lunch, snacks, free parking and a few surprises. Space is extremely limited, and spots are first-come, first-served.

Introduction to Entrepreneurship is open to all, and no application is required. The course fee is due at the time of registration, and is non-refundable.

DATE AND LOCATIONThe workshop will take place on Saturday July 18 from 8am - 5pm at The Skillery, 1323 6th Avenue North, in Nashville's Germantown neighborhood.

QUESTIONS?Questions about this class? Contact The Skillery at hello@theskillery.com.

The curriculum for Introduction to Entrepreneurship was developed by The Skillery, and is available to organizations worldwide seeking to offer business education and community support to aspiring entrepreneurs.